African foods vary among the cultures, subcultures and the different countries that make up the vast continent. However, there are distinct commonalities in their flavors. Contemporary African cuisines often incorporate many tropical climate crops and combine them with wild game and unique spice mixes. In West Africa, there is a high reliance on heavy starchy foods (Carbohydrates), which is a rich source of energy. Typically, West Africans will add taste to their meals with hot spices and chilli peppers, or sauces such as peanut.
BlackFoodie was cultivated by Eden Hagos, a Canadian of Ethiopian/Eritrean background, in the aftermath of an unfortunate racial experience she encountered while dining on a night out with her friends at a restaurant in downtown Toronto, Canada. That single experience prompted her to begin asking questions like “Why are certain cultural foods considered better than others?” “What about all of the other dope Caribbean and African restaurants in the city?” “Why wasn’t dining while Black ever a topic explored in mainstream food magazines and websites?”
ARM’s Akin T. George was in touch with Eden to find out more about the activities behind the BlackFoodie project.
What is Black Foodie all about?
Oxtail Stew
Black Foodie is an online platform and series that showcases the best in African, Caribbean and Southern cuisine. It explores food through a Black lens to tell our stories through food. The African diaspora has some of the most amazing food ever. We have great restaurants, cookbooks, spices, events….the list goes on. Black Foodie brings together this information so that you can experience the best in our flavours, connect with other foodies and get relevant insights on issues in the food world.
From your perspective, what is the role of culture in food cooking and eating?
It affects everything from when we eat, to where and why. My family comes from Ethiopia/Eritrea so I grew up with very interesting traditions around food. For special holidays, my sister and I would drive out in to the county to a farm and help my father choose the lamb that my grandmother would cook later that day. Because for big celebrations and holidays, lamb would have to be on the dinner table. When traditional Ethiopian coffee was prepared, there was a ceremony that came along with it. It was never just food. There were so many beautiful cultural traditions that came with each meal. And this is true for so many others in the African diaspora. We have cultural practices around food that bring us together and have traveled with us. I hope to explore these further on Black Foodie.
“Discover Our Stories, Cultures, Traditions and Flavours”, What’s the message behind the line?
Black Foodie offers insights on food from a context that places Black people at the center. What makes this unique is that it brings voices, recipes and experiences that have been ignored from mainstream media, to the forefront. Conversations like, ‘who has the best version of Jollof rice’ or ‘where to go for the best brunch party’, are examples of what we spotlight on Black Foodie. Our community loves to cook too; we go to food festivals and we love to eat! Rather than have our stories ignored or misrepresented by writers who don’t understand the context, Black Foodie features the real deal.
In your blog you wrote: “love explaining culture through food”, could you explain more on that?
Our food can reveal so much. There is so much love and preparation that goes into making some of our cultural dishes. Whether it be for religious reasons, like the way many Orthodox Christian East Africans fast by abstaining from meat and dairy for weeks at a time and create delicious vegan foods instead. Or patriotic reasons, like how on Haitian Independence day, Haitians around the world celebrate their freedom with Soup Joumou – a spicy pumpkin soup. These practices around food mean so much, it tells our history, it brings us together and it’s delicious. You can learn so much by digging deeper into food.
Why do you think African cuisines are not being featured in the mainstream food magazines?
Good question, our food is so delicious, they’re really missing out! I think that the stories around African foods much like many other stories from Africa are often ignored. There’s also often a narrative of Africa as only marked with struggle, war, and famine. So if the popular perception is that it is a continent without, then food is probably the last thing writers would look into. Also if the editors, writers, staff of these food magazines and publications are not diverse, then it’s not surprising that they are not reaching out into African cuisines.
What steps should be taken to address the situation, if any?
We create our own platforms like Black Foodie and the countless pop up restaurants and festivals that are coming up now that showcase African cuisine. Rather than waiting on others to acknowledge what’s happening in our kitchens, we too can write our recipes, showcase our restaurants and try new foods from the African Diaspora.
What kind of future do you envisage for African cuisines in the Greater Toronto Area?
I definitely see big things happening. There’s a huge African population, and I know that Ethiopian/ Eritrean food has become quite popular in the city. But I think that the West African food scene is on the rise. I hope to see more pop up events, food trucks, restaurants and festivals that showcase African food. I’m also excited for the fusion of different African cuisines and experiments that I’m sure Toronto will have coming up.
Do you prepare your recipes strictly along cultural lines or integrate several cultures together?
No I love to remix recipes. I just had Jamaican rice and peas with Ethiopian stew for dinner because it tastes delicious together. There are so many dishes with similarities across the board. I love Italian food, but when I make lasagna I add Ethiopian spices to it. Growing up in Canada, I watched as my family adapted recipes to fit the ingredients available here. I’ve found that many Black Foodie contributors and readers do the same. They are experimenting with traditional African and Caribbean foods and putting their own unique spin on it. I definitely encourage others to mix up their recipes and routines, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Your business is strictly online, are you planning to open a restaurant where people could mingle together in the near future?
Black Foodie isn’t strictly online, in fact I love hosting events and look forward to doing more! I started a dinner series called Injera and Chill to get people talking about and eating Ethiopian/ Eritrean Food. I featured this pop up Ethiopian dinner series, in Toronto, Atlanta and London, I’ve also hosted several brunch events and Caribbean dinner events as well. I don’t see myself opening a restaurant in the future. But I definitely see myself hosting a large Black Foodie festival that showcases food from the African diaspora as well as creating food products using our traditional flavors. I encourage all of the readers who are interested in seeing what’s next to subscribe to the Black Foodie email list.
Eden (third from left) with the BlackFoodie crew
Explore Links to BlackFoodie Injera and Chill Event HERE.
